Enthusiasm and Discipline

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.” ’ (Luke 4:1-4)

It seems that we are living in a languishing age. While the earth's population is growing rapidly and resource demands are being pressed to an all time high, little has changed in terms of the way that we live. This is particularly true when it comes to understanding and utilizing energy. Oil leads a cast of familiar suspects with which we have an increasing problematic relationship. For four decades we have been hearing about "breaking free" from our dependence upon fossil fuels but the truth is our addiction has only gotten worse.

Human history is closely related to our capacity to identify and employ various forms of energy. Almost without exception this has meant burning one or another source of carbon. From the wheat metabolizing in our bodies to the wood burning in our stoves to the gasoline driving the engines in our cars, human civilization has benefited and advanced largely because of that curious atom that bonds so readily in our world.

It is a true Catch-22. We have this great thing going; and yet, we sense that we are really starting to try the relationship... Reluctantly, many of us are starting to believe that it is time to do something else--something besides burning up carbon. But few of us have even the slightest idea of where to begin.

I suspect that sometime in the not too distant future we will figure this out. We will unlock some new secret in the universe that will allow us to identify a new energy source. Odds are, it will have something to do with hydrogen--perhaps an efficient harvest of solar energy or a practical application of fusion. Of course, I don't know the details and I really have no foundation for making such a prediction--except that it seems that we are just sort of due for such a breakthrough.

And when it comes, it will come swiftly. Once practical, it only took a hundred years for the internal combustion engine to make its way across the entire planet. And the world today is vastly smaller than it was a in the 19th century.

With the change, there will come a great enthusiasm, and rightfully so. After all, we have been imprisoned by the limitations of oil for a long time now. We are addicts who have only just begun to realize that we are suffering. So the deliverance from all this can not help but come as a salvific event. We will want to be careful here. Energy is a great and glorious thing. As we have witnessed, it is something that can be easy to worship. We will want to be careful about this.